Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Poland is the European country most targeted by Russian disinformation and cyber attacks in the run-up to its presidential election, according to a senior Polish minister.Krzysztof Gawkowski, deputy premier in charge of digital affairs, told reporters on Wednesday that “there have been constant attacks for weeks and months from Russian surveillance services” as his country gears up for the vote in May. “Poland is the most frequently attacked country in Europe,” he said, adding that his government would soon offer more details on the Russian “cyber war against Poland” and how it planned to counter it. His warning comes after last month’s unprecedented decision by Romania to cancel its presidential election due to alleged Russian interference. Germany and the Czech Republic are also preparing for Russian meddling attempts in their upcoming parliamentary votes.Gawkowski last week said Warsaw had identified a Russia-backed disinformation group trying to disrupt the Polish election campaign from abroad.“We have been following a great focus of Russian services on the pre- election process and through attempts to influence the outcomes,” Gawkowski said. “We have monitored the GRU [Russian military intelligence] actions here in Poland, putting in place some outfits to interfere.” The Polish government has also accused Moscow of “hybrid warfare” by helping migrants cross illegally Poland’s border with Belarus. In October Warsaw ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Poznań after accusing its diplomats of spying and sabotage. The Polish authorities have attributed recent arson attacks to Russia, including a fire at the largest Warsaw shopping mall last May. Some disinformation campaigns are aimed at weakening Poland’s support for Ukraine, nearly three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion. This month the Polish government warned that fake draft letters had been sent to Ukrainian men residing in Poland. Last spring, the government debunked news that claimed Poles would be sent to fight in Ukraine. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at the time that it was “a good example of Russia’s strategy of destabilisation” ahead of elections for the European parliament.Poland’s rightwing opposition has accused Tusk’s coalition of playing up the Russian threat in order to win the presidential election. “When I was in the defence ministry, we had to face every day attacks on our MOD servers from Russia and Belarus, so of course we are in a war with Russia in the cyber and info sphere,” said Marcin Ociepa, an opposition Law and Justice (PiS) lawmaker and former deputy defence minister. Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, “we’ve had several elections, we changed our government very smoothly . . . so there is no reason why anybody should call the next presidential election more vulnerable”. The European Commission opened an investigation into the Chinese social media platform TikTok following allegations that it allowed a Russia-backed influence campaign ahead of Romania’s cancelled vote. Brussels also started to reassess probes into big US online platforms ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, including the role played by Elon Musk’s X in amplifying Europe’s far-right parties.“We are in a new era of threats to liberal democracy, and Europe is under pincer attack from both east and west. Russia’s disinformation and attempts at destabilisation combines with the lack of accountability of big tech algorithms and platforms,” said Georg Riekeles, associate director at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think-tank.“If these algorithms are not governed properly, I fear they will render exercise of liberal democracy impossible.”
